Georgia lawmakers should not defend the KKK

Tell House Speaker Ralston to denounce Rep. Tommy Benton’s defense of the Ku Klux Klan as “not so much a racist thing.” Demand that Ralston block Benton’s neo-Confederate revisionist history bills and remove Benton from his role as Chair of the Human Relations & Aging Committee.

“Speaker Ralston: We urge you to denounce Rep. Tommy Benton’s defense of the Ku Klux Klan; block Rep. Benton’s neo-Confederate bills; and remove him from his role as Chair of the Human Relations & Aging committee. Benton’s defense of the KKK and his backwards views on slavery make it clear that he does not represent the people of Georgia.”

State Rep. Tommy Benton told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the KKK “was not so much a racist thing but a vigilante thing to keep law and order. It made a lot of people straighten up. I’m not saying what they did was right. It’s just the way things were.”

The state representative proposed a house resolution to confirm that the “heroes of the Confederate States of America … shall never been altered, removed, concealed or obscured in any fashion and shall be preserved and protected for all time as a tribute to the bravery and heroism of the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause.”

Call on House Speaker David Ralston to denounce Benton’s statements and take corrective actions immediately.